TiX ("Tokyo International eXchange") has announced that they will launch digital asset trading, including derivatives, for "non traditional assets".
Specifically, this includes luxury wrist watches.
Udeito Kē, analyst at Tokēgaku Securities, explained that Japan being a major global economy with relatively low population, there is a lot of personal wealth but famously it is mainly held in cash.
By introducing horological digital assets, he explains, TiX intends to increase liquidity in the luxury goods market of the world's 4th largest economy. This will enable fractional ownership, sales and trading of futures and options, and ETFs of the leading brands - without the traditional reliance on physical supply, ownership and wait lists.
It will be possible to "build a long position in Omega" he adds, or "short Rolex - if you are brave" without needing to acquire, hold and trade actual stock.
The surprise move by TiX is widely seen as a reaction to the launch last year of ODX (
Osaka Digital Exchange) which is owned by a consortium of the Japanese banks.
The Japanese government has
relaxed rules on digital assets and with the Nikkei hitting a lifetime high this year, inflation beginning to erode holdings of cash, the time (if you'll excuse the pun) is right for TiX to enter digital assets.
In choosing watches to focus upon initially, as opposed to NFTs or crypto, TiX has signalled a clear break with the current trend of digital assets having only nebulous or speculative worth.
The potential is to guide traditionally conservative Japanese fund managers and retail investors to consider allocating weight to the segment with the assurance that there is some intrinsic value.
"Rolex is a global currency" noted Kē-san "so why not treat it like one? Forex volumes are in excess of US$6 trillion a day, with "other instruments" currently only a small percentage" he added.
For TiX, the opportunity is clear:
"We hope to show that a tradable digital asset may also be backed by actual underlying value", said Yontsuki Shonichi, Representative Director of the newly formed 東京贅沢証券 - "Tokyo Opulence Exchange" (ToX) division.
"With the ability to trade watches digitally, there is no need for collectors to source actual physical pieces with all the difficulties, illiquidity and inefficiencies this entails, and it avoids the potential to lose face on resale".
In reference to the impact of the Japanese technological advances made in the 1960s and early 70s on the traditional watchmaking industry of the time, he added proudly "
We see this as the Quartz Moment for the traditional digital assets players"
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The Quartz Moment for traditional digital assets
Originally Posted by JasonM
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